How well will this card work with my new build?

[dragonbat13]

I looked in the graphics card ratings sticky at the top of the page and came across this card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202024

Here is my current computer buildup
i7 3770K
ASUS P8Z68-M pro (will upgrade to a extended ATX Z77 Card board later)
8G Corsair DDR3 1600
550 watt FSP platinum certified power supply
nothing overclocked at the moment.

I had not intended to use this computer for gaming, only HD Streaming from the internet. But it has ended up being used for gaming after all. For the games I had on hand (Skyrim elder scrolls and FEAR 2) I had to install a standby old ATI X1950Pro 512Mb. Currently its working out on skyrim with medium settings.

So will this card be a good matchup for this rig? Its right in the center of my budget range.

 

[Tweak155]

It would certainly blow your current card out of the water.

 

[Midwayman]

You should be fine as long as you don't OC the card. That card is a little power hungry. Otherwise it should work great.

 

[SolMiester]

OP, you dont state your LCD resolution size, however the difference between your old and the new card will be like night and day!
Enjoy!

 

[DooKey]

That's a nice card. You'll enjoy the improvement in your gaming.

 

[Arkaign]

Hey, hopefully you haven't bought it yet!

If you're willing to spend ~260 on a card, spend a few more bucks and get this instead :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131478

7950 is a lot more full blown of a card, and the 3GB of ram will come in handy should you decide to do the high-res texture packs for Skyrim. It's not that the 7870 is bad at all, it's actually really good and overclocks pretty well, but $20-$25 more, the 7950 is certainly the way to go.

 

[SolMiester]

Might need a better PSU with that one though!

 

[Arkaign]

And if you want most of that 7870 performance for a ton LESS money :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150656

$150, comes with Bioshock and Tomb Raider.

(caveat : 1GB VRAM, so really only consider this if you're at below 1080p) As you seem the type to keep things for a very long time, I think the 7950 3GB is a better fit for you and Skyrim adventuring

 

[raildogg]

Might need a better PSU with that one though!

FSP Platinum 550W should be good.

dragonbat, the card you have chosen looks excellent. Good to go! Just go ahead and buy it!

 

[dragonbat13]

For the 40 extra I would go with the 7950, but I would have to make sure the PSU would be OK first. I think it would, may be at the limit, but I think it would. Is Powercolor a reputable brand? Are there other brands I should consider for that GPU?

Just to ask,
The computer is also using a samsung 256G 840 SSD. Would that take a little of the load off the PSU? The HD combo is that and a 1T WD black for file storage.

I dont know if it would matter, but it would seem the SSD would lower the overall load on the PSU while the games were running.

 

[RussianSensation]

FPS makes high quality PSUs and most Platinum PSUs are excellent.

Your PSU is rated at 516W on 12V rail. HD7950 925mhz use just 165w of power in games with a peak of 185W.

You could literally run 2 HD7950s on that PSU.

$245-250 for an HD7870 is too much $. At that point I would spend extra for a 7950, or find a cheaper 7870.

HD7950:
- Best overclockers: MSI TwinFrozr III, Sapphire Vapor-X
- Quietest: PowerColor PCS+ followed by Asus DirectCUII
- A good combination of both worlds: Sapphire Dual-X / Sapphire FLEX, Gigabyte Windforce 3x